Boy, stop here. Might as well get us a ball.
Julie will have plenty to drink at the party.
Party liquor. Messed up with cherries and such. Come on.
- Wait right here. - Yes, sir, Mr. Cantrell, sir.
Man, you talk crazy.
I say that horse is out of the Truxton strain.
- Gentlemen. - Good afternoon.
- How are you, General Bogardus, sir? - How are you, Buck? Ted?
- Going to the party? - Yes, indeed.
- See you later then, sir. - Yes.
The Truxton strain's the best horse blood in this state.
Here's somebody that really knows bloodlines.
Hi, Buck Cantrell. Come here and help us decide a bet.
Got no time, Huger. Ted and I were just shifting.
Won't take any time at all, Buck.
You heard him, Huger. Buck got no time.
Gentlemen, Buck Cantrell got no time.
Five-to-four, he doesn't know the day.
I'll do better. Even money, he doesn't know what month.
Know what time of day it is, anyhow. Must be getting on towards 3:00.
If it was any later, De Lautruc would be a lot drunker.
Is it not admirable Monsieur Cantrell can joke so cleverly...
...when he has just lost the lady of his heart?
- Better not, Rene. - Yes, gentlemen.
Monsieur Cantrell has just lost his lady.
I wouldn't go on, De Lautruc.
See, gentlemen, Monsieur Cantrell is in bad humor...
...because Julie Marsden is marrying... - De Lautruc.
I thought I heard you mention a lady's name.
Must have misunderstood you, sir.
And if I did mention the name of a lady?
Why, just that a gentleman doesn't mention a lady's name in a barroom.
Are you trying to teach me manners, my friend?
Wouldn't think of trying, De Lautruc.
But I somehow don't like your hat or your ears or anything between them.
- Plain enough? - Amply, sir. Pierre?
I've the honor to ask you to name a friend.
- I'm acting as... - Shoot, Ted.
You're too young for this sort of thing.
Gentlemen, a moment.
Buck, I ought to get De Lautruc myself.
It's my brother that's gonna marry her.
That makes it much more my quarrel than yours.
- Let me act for you, Buck. - Well, if you feel that bad about it.
I've the honor to be acting for Mr. Cantrell.
- Sunrise at the Oaks satisfactory? - Perfectly, sir.
Why do you wanna make it so confounded early?
Make it 10:00. De Lautruc ain't wild.
We don't have to sneak up on him in the dark.
Your servant, gentlemen.
Come on, youngster. We gotta get on to the party.
Gentlemen, let's have another drink.
Buck, listen...
Here's something I've been aiming to get all day.
- Must have trimmings for the party. - Cantrell, one minute.
- You riding along with us? - I have my carriage.
Cantrell, I don't like this. Miss Julie's name was mentioned.
As her guardian, I don't like her mixed up in this.
Miss Julie's name was mentioned? Why, sir, if it was, I never heard it.
It's just that I don't like De Lautruc, is all. May I?
Cantrell, you're a fool. De Lautruc's an old hand. Been out a dozen times.
Thirteen's liable to be unlucky for De Lautruc.
You know these French. They shoot for the head and like as not, miss.
I'm gonna shoot for the body and bust his tripes.
General Bogardus, sir, your servant.
Mrs. Kendrick. Miss Kendrick, ma'am.
- Keep in the shade, Albert. - Yes, Mrs. Kendrick, ma'am.
I won't have the horses standing in the sun, you hear?
Yes, ma'am.
- Stay in your seat. - Yes, ma'am.
- Keep your hat and gloves on. - Yes, ma'am.
- And your coat buttoned. - Yes, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am.
- Mrs. Kendrick, ma'am. - Good evening, Cato.
Miss Kendrick.
- Honoria, how good of you to come. - Sweet of you to ask us, Belle.
And, Stephanie, how pretty you look, child.
Oh, thank you, Miss Massie.
Stephanie, your manners.
- I do hope we aren't late, Belle. - Late? Julie isn't here herself yet.
- What? - At her own party in her own house.
Really, I don't know what to do with that girl.
Well, I always say, "Better late than never."
Excuse me, please, Honoria.
Mother, please don't fault me like that before people.
Girls don't curtsey anymore.
- I read it in Godey's. - They do in New Orleans.
You've no call to take up with Yankee manners.
- How do you find yourself, Mrs. Petion? - Honoria, Stephanie.
Belle just told me Julie is late for her own party in her own house.
But I always say, "Punctuality is the politeness of kings."
Politeness was never one of Julie's virtues.
Ted, isn't it exciting?
I think your brother Pres is the luckiest man.
Providing he keeps a short reign on her.
Oh, you're just trying to talk like Buck Cantrell.
I wish Julie would come.
So does Aunt Belle. She's having a fit.
Tell me, wasn't Mr. Cantrell just crushed?
Crushed? Buck Cantrell?
Hounds all over him. Tom with his knife, high-tailing with a bear.
The only way you could tell which was which, he had a hat on.
Laugh, I thought I...
- Yes, Miss Belle? - Theophilus, that child isn't here yet.
You're her guardian. You'll have to speak to her.
You're her aunt, Miss Belle. Why don't you?
- Girl never was on time in her life. - It's outrageous of her.
Oh, time ain't so important, Miss Belle.
Seems like the longer I live, the more there is of it.
And I don't know what to say to people.
Evening, Miss Julie.
Thank you, Gros Bat. Take him around, Ti Bat.
Now, Ti Bat, don't stand there with your eyes bulging out like that.
- He knows you're scared. - Yes, ma'am, Miss Julie, but he bite.
Well, then you just plain bite him back.
- Good evening, Uncle Cato. - Praise be, Miss Julie.
- Miss Belle's been nigh on to a fit. - I know, I'm late.
Miss Julie, I done laid out your party dress.
Thanks. No time. Got to go in to my guests.
- Miss Julie, in them horse clothes? - They won't mind.
Good evening, everybody.
Terribly sorry to be late. I had trouble with the colt.
- Hello, dumpling. - Julie, your riding habit.
No time to change, darling. Stephanie.
- I think it looks lovely. - Thank you, honey.
- How are you, Ted? - Fine as frog's hair.
Good evening. Good evening. How do you do?
So sorry, but when a colt gets high-headed...
...teach him his manners or ruin him.
- Yes, that's so important, isn't it? - Hello, Molly. Excuse me, will you?
I declare. I hope I'm broad-minded, but I must say...
I know what Stephanie would get if she did such a thing, big as she is.
I always say, "Spare the rod and you spoil the child."
It sounds so thrilling, darling, living way up North in New York.
Julie, I wish you and Pres all the happiness...
...the best of health... - And the most of prosperity.
Sherry, ma'am?
You said the very same thing the last time Pres and I were engaged.
We'll keep right on saying it until you finally get married.
My dear, the toddies are for the gentlemen.
- Whiskey, Uncle Billy? - Yes, ma'am.
- The very best of Bourbon. - That's fine.
To the very good health of the future Mrs. Dillard.
Buck.
Aren't you gonna wish me happiness too?
What's the use? You won't get it marrying a trader and going up North.
Pres is a banker, not a trader. I'll thank you to remember that.
I keep forgetting there's a difference.
But you won't like it in the North, Miss Julie, tell you what.
- I'll be happy anywhere Pres is. - You won't like it at the North.
You know those little old white beans? Horse-feed beans?
You know what they do with them in Boston?
They eat them. Ladies and gentlemen eat them, what I hear.
- Buck, you're... - My dear.
Isn't Preston Dillard ever going to arrive?
I'm sorry, Mrs. Kendrick, I tried to persuade him...
...but he found it important to meet with the directors of his bank.
Of course. "Business before pleasure," I always say.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a toast.
To the firm of Dillard and Sons, a venerable institution...
...a financial colossus with branches in New York...
...Boston, London and Paris.
I guess the one railroad we got is not enough, huh?
Let's see what it does before we finance another.
It's losing money by the fistful, that's what.
Steam cars. Ten million dollars to mess with another railroad.
Who's gonna ride on them?
All joggled up with any kind of rag-tagging bobtail?
What's a gentleman keep a carriage for?
What if a gentleman ain't got a carriage?
He can borrow one. What's he got friends for?
Gentlemen. Gentlemen.
We are here to listen to Mr. Dillard's plans...
...to finance the Nashville Pacific.
Pacific, and build it east.
When they gonna ask you to build a railroad to California?
Gentlemen, I'm a banker, not a conjure man.
But I can tell you this:
New York and Boston are steadily laying in rails to the Northwest.
They're tapping the trade of that country.
Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, the whole Great Lakes country...
...beginning to ship east by rail.
- And New Orleans is missing the parade. - The river's still there.
I reckon even those Yankee sharpers aren't smart enough...
...to turn the Mississippi around.
Yankees sharpers are smart enough to turn the traffic around.
The railroads are getting it.
Cussed, snorting, tin teakettles. Scaring my horses.
Every time we get a colt, I look for him to be foaled with a whale-oil headlight.
I do not think they're so healthy too. All that smoke and...
Since when have you become so suddenly concerned about what's healthy?
He's off again.
You're old enough to remember the epidemic of '30.
- Or are you so old you've forgotten it? - I knew it.
Quick as anybody said "health"...
...Doc Livingstone come surging out of the cane-break, hollering, "Yellow jack."
And I'll keep on hollering till you do something...
...about cleaning up this town, getting the filth off the streets.
I've been trying to pound sense into your knotheads for years.
Just the same as Pres is trying to do right now, and with no better luck.
But I'm warning you, and you, Jean La Cour...
...member of the City Counsel, and all of you...
...if we get us another dose of yellow fever like we had back in '30...
...when there wasn't enough men alive to bury the dead...
...there just isn't going to be any town to run a railroad into.
I'm telling you what's a fact.
Dr. Livingstone, let us not confuse the issue.
We are here to discuss a railroad. Mr. Dillard.
Gentlemen, I have here the figures on the declining river freight.
These figures don't lie. Last year, our riverboat...
- Yes? - It's Miss Julie's boy, sir.
- He insists to see you, sir. - What does he want?
He insists that Miss Julie told him to see you personally, sir.
One moment, please, gentlemen.
The lady's waiting, sir.
- Is the party over? - Yes, Mr. Pres.
Miss Julie tell me to ask you...
...would you most politely drop what you're doing and come?
You tell her I'm in the middle of something important.
Directors' meeting. I can't leave now. She'll understand.
Yes, sir, Mr. Pres. She'll understand, all right.
But liking it is gonna be different.
And expecting a man to go to a dressmaker's with you.
I declare, I hope Pres doesn't come.
- He will. - But, Julie...
Now, don't fret about Pres. I've been training him for years.
Not with that man-killing horse you bought.
Pres was outrageous.
He'd no right to tell me what I could ride and couldn't.
Horse showed you what you couldn't.
You broke your collarbone and your engagement.
And they both mended, so I was right after all.
- Miss Julie, ma'am. - Ti Bat, did you tell him to hurry?
Yes, ma'am, Miss Julie. I tell him. But he ain't come.
That is, not just exactly.
That is, he say, will you please go along?
In the middle of some directions. Causes some problems.
He can't see you later.
Did Mr. Pres say that?
Yes, ma'am, those his very words. He says you'll understand.
- Yes. Yes, I understand perfectly. - Julie.
Julie, in a bank.
I'll get him, Miss Julie. I'll get him.
- Thank you. - Just a moment.
I'm not putting the bank in a $ 10 million proposition...
...without knowing what I'm talking about.
I haven't spent six months getting these figures for my album.
- Give me a little... - Mr. Dillard, sir.
- Yes, what is it? - It's Miss Julie, sir. She's waiting.
- I'm sorry. - Certainly, my boy.
Everything waits where beauty's concerned.
- You shouldn't... - Are you coming or aren't you?
- Try to understand. - I only understand that you promised.
- But this is important. - I don't suppose it's important...
...that I spent a whole month having my ball dress made.
You promised to come and see it fitted.
I don't suppose it's important to you what I wear to the Olympus ball.
It's only you that's so important.
I suppose Mr. La Cour and the others couldn't possibly get on without you.
They'd love to, permanently.
- Now, Julie, you've got good sense. - Thank you.
I'm having the fight of my life in there. I've gotta get back.
Just run along, I'll see you later.
Don't trouble.
I'm sure you'll be too exhausted from your terrific struggle.
- Julie, you must realize... - I realize only too well.
Good day, Mr. Dillard. I'm so sorry to have troubled you.
To Madame Poulard's.
- Julie, it's perfectly lovely. - I don't like the color.
And does it have to be so tight here?
- It binds. And the skirt... - But it's adorable, Julie. It really is.
- Pres has always loved you in white. - Yes.
If he isn't bowled over, I won't know what to think.
Wait a minute. Bring that over here.
- Saucy, isn't it? - And vulgar.
Yes, isn't it?
- Come on. Get me out of this. - Julie, what are you doing?
If it fits me, I'm gonna wear it to the Olympus ball.
A red dress to the Olympus ball? Why, you're out of your senses.
That creature, Julie. You heard what Madame Poulard said.
- That infamous Vickers woman. - Marie Vickers couldn't do it justice.
Child, you're out of your mind.
You know you can't wear red to the Olympus ball.
Can't I? I'm going to.
This is 1852, dumpling. 1852, not the Dark Ages.
Girls don't have to simper around in white because they're not married.
In New Orleans, they do.
Julie, you'd insult every woman on the floor.
Mademoiselle, your aunt, she's right. Look how beautiful this dress is.
Will you kindly get me out of this?
Julie, you can't be serious.
Never more serious in my life.
But, Julie, think of Pres.
That's just exactly what I am thinking of.
Preston, I'm not convinced, but I consider, I think.
- Gentlemen, bon soir. - Evening, La Cour.
Well, cheer up, son. You've got La Cour to thinking anyhow.
That, my boy, is as good as starting a balky mule.
- It took your support, doctor. - Nonsense.
I'd always be with Tom Dillard's son, right or wrong.
Best man I ever knew. Don't breed men like that nowadays.
You measured right up to him this afternoon.
I'm afraid not, doctor.
You been having you some little fuss with Miss Julie?
- If you don't mind, sir. - Certainly, my boy.
None of my business anyhow.
But speaking abstractly, and nothing personal intended...
...your generation don't understand the darlings.
- Why, maybe not. - Absolutely not, my boy.
Woman, sir, is a chalice...
...a frail, delicate chalice, to be cherished and protected.
But nowadays, no proper respect for our Southern womanhood.
Think your father would have allowed his lady...
...to come surging into his place of business?
What would he have done, sir?
He'd have cut him a hickory, sir. A hickory.
He'd have flailed the living daylights out of her...
...and then helped put lard on her welts and bought her a diamond brooch.
That's what he'd have done, sir, and she'd have loved it.
Good evening, my boy.
Thank you, doctor. Good evening, sir.
- Evening, Mr. Preston. - Hello, Cato. Is Miss Julie about?
She's up to her room, sir. I'll tell her you're here.
Just rest yourself in there with the folks.
Thanks, Uncle Cato.
- Evening. - Pres, I'm so glad you've come.
I thought you...
Julie said you'd quarreled again.
It's time we all stopped hanging on every word she says.
Most times, she only half means them.
I was telling your aunt the same thing. That girl...
She just had a little fuss with Pres. That's all, isn't it, Pres?
If you can call it a fuss, Miss Belle.
- You see, Theophilus? - I'm going to speak out.
That girl is high-headed and willful.
Son, if you just come to realize it, what she needs is a firm hand.
I appreciate your interest, but I believe I can handle this.
Mr. Preston, Miss Julie say, will you most politely excuse her?
- Is she ill? - Why, no, Pres.
She's sound as a nut.
- Excuse me a moment. - Take your own good time, my boy.
Now, Belle.
Julie?
Julie, it's Pres.
Open the door. I want to talk to you.
Julie, why don't you answer?
Look here, Julie, you and I have got to straighten things out.
There's no sense to all this.
I'm here because I love you and because I know you love me...
...but there are some things we've got to see straight.
Julie, I couldn't leave the bank today, you know that.
I was just as disappointed as you were.
Now, please, Julie. We've always had these silly quarrels.
Can't we stop?
Julie? Why don't you answer?
Darling, if you'll just open the door, I'm sure I could...
Julie!
Open this door.
Julie!
Who is it?
Open this door.
Why, Pres. Banging on a lady's door.
I'm scandalized at you.
Well, did you come up here just to stand there?
Julie, how long must we go on like this?
Like what, Pres?
Fighting, fussing all the time like a couple of children.
Why do you treat me like a child?
Because you act like one. A spoiled one.
You used to say you liked me like that, once.
You never wanted me to change.
Remember?
Julie.
Why, Pres. In a lady's bedroom.
- Now you'll have to marry me. - What do you figure I aim to do?
Then kiss me again.
- Would you like to see my new dress? - That's what I wanted to do all day.
Well... Well, let me go, then.
There it is.
- For the Olympus ball? - Isn't it lovely?
- Julie, it's red. - It's gorgeously red.
- You can't wear red to the Olympus ball. - Why not?
You never saw an unmarried girl in anything but white.
And you're gonna see one tomorrow night.
Julie, you can't be serious.
You afraid somebody will take me for a girl from Gallatin Street?
- Julie! - Oh, I'm sorry.
I forgot, I'm a child.
I'm not supposed to know about things like Gallatin Street.
I'm supposed to flutter around in white.
You're supposed to know better than to scandalize the whole town.
It might be bad for the bank.
Of course.
Will you please hold another meeting and ask them to decide what I can wear?
For heaven's sake, will you be reasonable?
- Were you reasonable this afternoon? - So that's it.
You're just nursing a spite. Well, I'm not gonna let you.
You've made your point. For once, you're gonna do as I say.
I'm calling for you tomorrow night at 10...
...and you're gonna be dressed properly in white.
Am I?
Oh, but, of course, Preston, if you say so.
Don't be absurd. Your own good sense will say so.
And if it doesn't?
Then, my sweet, you and I will sit at home quietly with our embroidery.
Good night.
Tomorrow night at 10.
Oh, Preston, you forgot your stick.
So I did. I forgot to use it too.
So you did.
- Did you call me, Miss Julie? - Yes, Zette. I've got an errand for you.
- I'd rather not trust the others. - Yes, ma'am.
Miss Julie, this sure is the most elegant dress.
You can have it after tomorrow.
- Me, Miss Julie? - If you can keep a secret.
It's just like you ain't never said nothing.
Zette, I want this delivered right away to Mr. Buck Cantrell on Chartres Street.
And, Zette, remember, not a word to anyone, understand?
I sure do understand, Miss Julie.
It's just like I was struck stone dumb in both my ears.
Well, go on.
Zette. Zette, when Mr. Pres comes, give him this.
Give him this, Miss Julie?
Just give it to him. He'll understand.
Yes, Miss Julie, ma'am.
- Good evening. - Evening, Miss Julie.
You're late.
Sorry, I had a little business to attend to.
Is it true about Mr. De Lautruc?
Don't you suppose I know about the meeting?
- I don't know what you mean. - Is it true you killed him?
Sure. I never did him that bad.
Dr. Livingstone, he had him an elegant name for it:
A fractured...
Well, anyway, it just looked like a busted hip to me.
My zing, Miss Julie, you all dressed up for a hog killing?
I hoped you'd like it.
Well, makes me feel kind of all-overish.
Well, your note said 10:00, side entrance, Miss Julie.
What you up to?
Buck, you're taking me to the Olympus ball.
- You do me a great honor. - Then we'd better hurry.
Just a minute. You had a set-to with Pres?
- I'd rather not discuss it. - We'd better. Pres isn't gonna like it.
What's the matter, Buck? Afraid Pres will call you out?
He'd do that. Can't say I'd blame him much.
Where do I stand, carrying his lady?
- If I ask you to, isn't that enough? - Not this time, Miss Julie.
I think too much of you to help do something you'll regret.
- I know exactly what I'm doing. - Most likely you do, but you're wrong.
That dress can cause no end of trouble.
Folks will resent you coming to the ball in it.
Well, let them. They're just petty and narrow-minded.
No, ma'am, it's just that they got rules and they go by them. Same as you and I.
- And do you prefer to go by your rules? - I always have, Miss Julie.
Then I'm sorry I troubled you.
- Good night, Mr. Cantrell. - Good night, Miss Julie.
- Good evening, Uncle Cato. - Evening, Mr. Pres.
- Evening, Pres. - Evening. Julie dressed?
Zette, tell Miss Julie Mr. Pres is here. We're ready to go.
Well, don't stand there like a bump on a log. Go along and tell her.
Yes, Miss Belle, ma'am.
Zette.
Good evening.
Well, shall we go, Pres?
Not till you're properly dressed.
You're sure it's the dress? It couldn't be that you're afraid?
Afraid somebody will insult me and you'll find it necessary to defend me?
May I?
- Ready, Aunt Belle? - Pres, please...
We're ready, my boy.
...that dress.
Hello, Molly. Mrs. Kendrick. Hello, Dick.
- Miss Julie. - Evening, Julie.
Stephanie, we must pay our respects to Mrs. Zemal. You'll excuse us, please.
Gentlemen, you all have the privilege of Miss Marsden's acquaintance, I think.
- Gentlemen. - Good evening, Miss Marsden.
- Respects, ma'am. - Good evening, Buck.
We were just fixing to pour us a little libation.
That's right.
- Shall we see you later? - Excuse me.
Oh, there's my partner now.
Excuse me, please.
You haven't a partner you have to meet, Cantrell.
Why, no. Came alone.
A pleasant evening, isn't it?
Mighty pleasant.
Nice and cool.
Do you find it cool in here?
I don't find it particularly cool.
- Do you, Julie? - Why... Why, no.
I don't find it particularly cool.
Miss Julie doesn't find it so.
Why, no.
Now you speak of it, it's just about right.
It seems so to me.
Your servant.
Yours, Miss Julie.
Pres, I wanna leave.
Why? We haven't danced yet.
- Shall we? - No.
Pres, let me go.
Take me out of here.
Go on and play.
Pres, let me go. Please take me out of here.
Good night, Aunt Belle.
Goodbye, Julie.
Is that all you've got to say to me?
There's nothing more to say.
Evidently you've made up your mind.
No, Julie. You've made up my mind.
Goodbye, Pres.
Goodbye, Julie.
Julie, don't let him go. Call him back.
Julie, you're a fool.
Not such a fool.
- He'll come back. - He won't.
Not this time, he won't. Believe me.
Julie, honey, let me send for him.
No, he'll come back. Wait and see.
Yet tonight, I think.
If he does, say I've retired.
And that I'm sleeping late in the morning.
Not to come around till afternoon tomorrow.
Tell him to...
Huger's got himself a brand-new reason for getting liquored.
Straight bourbon and lots of it. That's a fact.
Ever hear of a man and his liquor getting yellow fever?
I aim to carry all I can hold, and I advise you gentlemen to do likewise.
Huger aims not to be carried off by anything but drink.
It's no joking matter. Looks mighty serious.
More cases than you hear about.
Doctors call it by another name, any name but yellow fever.
Every time I see old dead wagon, I pour me four fingers of bourbon.
Yesterday, I drunk nigh on to two quarts.
Ain't any more yellow fever than this time last year.
You never hear of fever talk in racing season.
Folks got something better to talk about.
- Hello. - Hello, Dillard.
How you, Ted?
- Something working on your mind. - Pres is coming back.
Why, now, folks generally do.
- When did you hear this? - Just now, from Dr. Livingstone.
He's bringing something rare and precious from the North.
- What could it be, I wonder? - A stem-winding watch, maybe.
And give yourselves a breathing spell up there on the plantation.
Only a matter of a few weeks, I say, until the scare blows over.
You'll be back in time for the Mardi Gras and Olympus ball.
Is there really cause for alarm?
Well, I wouldn't go so far as that, but the city's not going to be so pleasant.
No parties. Theater's liable to be closed as a precautionary measure.
The theater.
I haven't been since...
- When was the last time, Aunt Belle? - Camille.
I hated it. I wouldn't mind if I never saw another play.
I strongly urge you go.
Who knows? Maybe we are in for another time like '30.
Heaven forbid.
Dr. Livingstone's only looking after our best interests, I'm sure, my dear.
I am indeed.
May I send instructions to have the house made ready?
I'll try to persuade her, Dr. Livingstone.
Julie don't look as well as I've seen her.
It's all I can do to get her to step from this house.
Won't go outside except to ride that crazy thoroughbred of hers.
I'm in fear and trembling she'll break her neck.
Won't go anyplace where there's company. Won't have company in.
Young Mr. Cantrell and the others, she hasn't received them in months.
They've stopped calling. Only leave cards.
What does she do all day long?
Tends the house as no house has ever been tended.
She's so particular, if an article is half an inch out of place...
...or if there's a speck of dust on anything, she notices it.
Makes me uneasy.
You might be interested in a bit of news I got today.
Preston Dillard's coming back.
Arrives Friday on the packet.
- What brings him? - This yellow-fever business.
We two stand together on what ought to be done about it.
Now it's busted loose, he's coming back.
It's high time.
I suspect I know Julie like nobody ever will...
...every crook and cranny of her.
You ought to, Miss Belle. She's more like you than you ever were.
Maybe I love her most when she's her meanest...
...because I know that's when she's loving most.
I'll let you know about the plantation just as soon as I can.
Do that, Miss Belle, if you please, ma'am.
Don't bother, Miss Belle.
- Goodbye, Cato. - Evening, Dr. Livingstone, sir.
I do believe Dr. Livingstone takes pleasure in frightening people.
- Particularly women. - You don't remember the last outbreak.
It was dreadful.
I guess it's pretty serious.
Pres Dillard's coming home on account of it.
Pres is coming home.
Of course.
Did you know it?
Certainly, I knew it.
I knew all along.
He had to come back to me.
He couldn't help himself.
He wouldn't know how to fight as hard as I have...
...to keep from going to him.
We'll be married.
I'm gonna beg his forgiveness.
I was vicious, mean and selfish.
And I'm gonna tell him I hated myself for being like I was, even then.
I'll humble myself before him.
And everything that ever stood between us will be gone...
...when he takes me in his arms.
Darling.
Perhaps we'd better go to the plantation.
Of course, that's the place for our meeting.
We'd better start packing.
Uncle Cato. Zette.
We'll give a party, dumpling. We'll invite everybody.
A party to celebrate.
Uncle Cato, get the trunks out of the attic.
And, Zette, lay out my dresses.
And have Gros Bat polish up the big carriage.
Have Mammy Teel pack a basket.
And get the furniture covers out, we're closing the house.
What are you standing there for? Get a move on. We're going to Halcyon.
- You guess that's plenty, Uncle Cato? - I guess so, Miss Julie.
If all that mint sticks in the juleps, it's bound to be a powerful night.
Now, don't you forget a hard frost on the glasses.
Miss Julie, when I ever serve a gentleman a julep without the frost?
Mr. Pres sure gonna know he's back home, all right.
You finish it, will you?
Zette, run a damp cloth over my mirror and lay out my dress.
- I'll be up in a minute. - Yes, ma'am, Miss Julie.
- Zette. - Yes?
- Is Gros Bat on the lookout? - Yes, Miss Julie.
You're gonna wear those flowers out with fixing and fussing.
Everything's got to be right, dumpling. Just right.
Well, I guess everything is.
And you most of anything, honey.
- Excited? - Feel my heart jumping?
Well, I guess I better go and dress.
Zette. Zette, help me out of this.
Did you hear a carriage?
Go on, Zette, see. Hurry.
Do you see any carriages just yet?
- No carriage coming yet. - Nope, no carriages coming yet.
- Yes? - No carriages yet.
Well, then hook me up, Zette.
Why you ain't never wear this dress before, Miss Julie?
It's the most prettiest dress you own.
- I've been saving it for today. - Yeah.
I don't never have no hopes of falling heir to this dress, I don't.
No, not this one, Zette.
Carriages coming!
- Where? - Carriages coming, down yonder.
- Carriages coming! - Carriages coming!
- Zette.
- Man on horseback too. - Zette, yes.
- Carriages coming. - Carriages coming.
Carriages coming.
- Glad to see you. - I'm so glad to see you.
Mr. Buck and Mr. Dick are on horseback.
- Keep an eye out for Mr. Pres. - Yes, ma'am.
- Buck, I'm glad to see you. - Hello.
Will you all go in and just sort of carry on, right?
Go on and make yourselves at home.
Dick, I'm so glad.
Before it was a pleasure to be here, but this time it's a blessing.
Yes, ma'am. I'm sure glad to see you all back again.
I guess there's no use my telling you folks...
...how glad we are to have you here.
Miss Belle, I reckon none of us ever could forget the hospitality of Halcyon.
Now, you stay out of my kitchen.
I haven't forgotten the time you ate my party pompano.
Sure. Miss Julie and me, we'd been bird hunting.
We were hungry, and there was an elegant pompano.
Well, you were both of you mighty reprehensible.
- Have you heard from Preston? - No, but I had a note from Ted.
He said Pres would arrive on the packet about noon.
He'd be responsible for bringing him over.
They ought to be here by now.
Have to wait for the sheriff to pass them through the parish line.
Pass them through?
Armed guards are patrolling the road as far up as Riverview.
Stopping everybody coming from the city.
It's mighty bad in the city, mighty bad.
- We're all very fortunate to be up here. - Are any gentlefolk taken down?
Major Crandall's dead with it, for one.
Ned Warrington's got it. No telling how many others.
Where there's sickness they're keeping it a secret.
There's talk of shipping those who have it...
...to Lazarette Island where the lepers are.
"Lazarette Island where the lepers are"?
Like in '30.
Why, it ain't civilized to condemn Christian people to Lazarette Island.
Well, they won't have a chance at all.
No chance at all, Miss Belle. But maybe the rest of us will.
Theophilus, we are safe up here?
This parish always has been above the fever line.
They aim to keep it that way.
Excuse me for keeping you all standing.
Come on in and freshen up a bit.
- Carriage coming! - That must be Pres and Ted now.
Carriage coming!
- Pres, my dear boy. - Aunt Belle.
And Ted.
Aunt Belle, everybody, this is Amy, my wife.
Pres, your wife?
You could have knocked me over with a feather.
Hey, Buck, there's your stem-winder.
Oh, my dear...
Pres' wife would naturally be welcome here...
...but you are for your own sake. - Thank you.
Pres' brother has been so gracious in his welcome.
I hoped that the others he loves would be the same.
Of course we will, my dear.
May I present our friends.
- May I present General Bogardus? - How do you do?
- Mr. Cantrell. - How do you do?
- Mr. Allen. - How do you do?
My dear, will you come with me?
Howdy, ma'am.
Mighty nice to have you back with us again, Pres.
See that the gentlemen get their juleps.
Yes, Miss Belle.
- Cato. I'm glad to see you again. - Praise be, Master Pres.
Sure glad to see you back home.
- How are you? - Fine and dandy.
My dear. Excuse us, please.
- You got some mint juleps? - Yes, sir.
You just follow me now, and I'll show you.
It's kind of you to have us. Tell you the truth, I'd have come anyhow.
- I hope so. - I've got to go back tomorrow.
Back to the city? But, Pres...
Things are at sixes and sevens. The fever's left us short-handed.
But I want to ask if Amy may stay. I want her out of the city.
- But perhaps it isn't convenient. - My dear, Halcyon belongs to its guests.
And Pres' wife is, of course, an honored one.
Come, my dear.
Is this your first visit south?
Yes, it's beautiful. Strange and beautiful.
- A little frightening. - Frightening?
Because of its strangeness and beauty, I suppose.
This way, my dear.
- You haven't forgotten how. - Me, sir?
The head might forget, but the hand remembers.
Anyhow, Miss Julie, she's right in behind me all day to fix them...
...just the way you used to like them.
Uncle Cato, how is Miss Julie?
- Miss Julie? Why, she's just Miss Julie. - Just the same?
I reckon princesses, they just naturally grows up to be queens, that's all.
Uncle Cato, we've known each other a long time.
I'm back now. Home.
It's a special occasion. Will you join me in one?
Why... Why, Mr. Pres, it ain't hardly proper.
But I'll kindly take one out in the pantry...
...and bless you and Miss Julie.
Pres.
Are you remembering the time you wanted me to wear white?
Are you?
Well, until now, I never have.
Cat got your tongue, Pres?
Julie...
You said that plain enough.
Pres, what fools we were.
Julie, you're lovely. Lovelier than ever.
Pres, I can't believe it's you here.
I dreamed about it so long. A lifetime.
No.
Longer than that.
I put on this white dress for you...
...to help me tell you how humbly I ask you to forgive me.
Pres, I'm kneeling to you.
Julie, don't.
To ask you to forgive me and love me...
...as I love you. - Julie, please.
Julie...
...this is Amy, my wife.
Your wife?
And you're... May I say "Julie"?
Pres' wife?
- You're funning. - Hardly.
Married.
My felicitations, Pres.
Julie? Julie?
Yes, Aunt Belle, in here.
I was just congratulating Pres on his marriage.
- You from the North, Mrs. Dillard? - New York.
She was a Miss Bradford. Isn't that what you told me, my dear?
Yes.
Bradford.
Amy Bradford...
...from New York.
I'm very happy to welcome you to Halcyon.
Thank you.
You have such charming customs here.
You may find our customs, as you call them...
...different from those of your country.
I did want to meet you. Pres had told me so much about you.
Everything, I suppose.
Are you very surprised about our getting...?
We Louisianans are very impulsive.
I wouldn't be surprised at whatever Pres did.
- Julie, the others will be coming down. - Oh, yes, Aunt Belle, of course.
Would you excuse us a moment?
Julie...
Julie, child, I'm so sorry.
For heaven's sakes, don't be gentle with me now.
Do you think I wanna be wept over?
I've gotta think, to plan, to fight.
- But you can't fight marriage. - Marriage, is it?
To that washed-out little Yankee?
Pres is mine. He's always been mine. And if I can't have him...
- Why, Buck. - Miss Julie.
You don't know how glad I am to see you.
And I am most pointedly delighted to see you, Miss Julie.
Most pointedly delighted.
William Lloyd Garrison is a fanatic. Wendell Phillips is another.
They've made a mighty touchy situation.
But I can't believe the intelligent men up North...
...plot to destroy our sovereign rights. - You sound calm now.
You were raring to go when you joined up with Andrew Jackson to fight the British.
I was a lot younger then, and a lot foolisher.
What Buck's been saying doesn't sound so foolish to me.
Most of it makes sense. And I'll take the rest on faith.
Why, that's the first time you ever said I talked sense.
Well, you don't much.
But it's refreshing to see a man who knows his own mind.
Don't you think so, Pres?
It's hard to know your mind sometimes.
If only we could put away this stale old quarrel.
Exactly. I always say, "Let sleeping dogs lie."
Trouble is, those abolitionists don't act like sleeping dogs.
They're scratching their fleas all over.
Looks to me like we'll have to hang a few to get us any peace.
This William Lloyd Garrison would look elegant that way.
I'm afraid your problems wouldn't be solved by hanging Mr. Garrison.
Why, there's plenty more.
I named Garrison because he's a traitor by his own say-so.
And there's such meanness in a traitor. Don't you think so, Pres?
Julie spoke to you, Pres.
- Excuse me. - Oh, just small talk. Don't trouble.
I'm sorry. It's... Tonight I'm haunted.
- Haunted? - Only by memories, Uncle Cato.
It's just coming back here. All my childhood summers.
There's so much to remember.
Remembering? A forward-looking young banker?
Even a banker has memories.
Well, he ought to kill them, then, or laugh at them.
I interrupted you. You were about to hang somebody for a traitor.
Why, for an abolitionist, Miss Julie.
I think it was Voltaire who said, "I disagree with everything you say...
...and I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Pres, that don't make sense.
Maybe Pres got a little beyond us, Buck.
We ignorant Southerners simply expect a gentleman to go by his raising.
I think we're all agreed on that.
Here's how I see it. Cotton is king.
Folks are bound to ship cotton down river.
So how can New Orleans keep from being the greatest city in America,...
...fever or no fever?
I'm afraid there's more than fever the matter.
Being up North changed your point of view.
I hate to say this, but in a war of commerce, the North must win.
That's a curious thing for a Southerner to say.
It strikes me that way.
But maybe Pres has learned why. Up North.
If you must have it, it will be a victory of machines over unskilled slave labor.
- Preston! - I don't know that I like that, Dillard.
You're not expected to like it.
You'll like it a lot less when it happens.
And you talk mighty like a black abolitionist.
I think you know I'm no abolitionist. I believe the tide has turned against us.
But I'll swim against that tide just as far as you will, Cantrell.
Sure, we're all of one mind here.
We hate an abolitionist as we hate the devil.
Naturally, we claim the right to the customs we were born to.
Even some of us who question the value of those customs.
I like my convictions undiluted, same as I do my bourbon.
Frankly, I'm not impressed by Pres' nightmares.
I've had dreams myself, but they never come to much.
They slip away from you, and you wonder how you could've been so silly.
Sure is a fact, Miss Julie.
- There was one very curious one I had. - I'd certainly admire to hear it.
Oh, heavens, I wouldn't think of boring our guests.
Shall we go into the drawing room, ladies?
- It wouldn't bore me, Miss Julie. - Perhaps to you later.
To you alone.
We'll be in the drawing room. You can find us.
You can lay 10-1 on me, Miss Julie.
Gentlemen.
Stephanie, what you giggling about now?
Oh, nothing, Mother.
- Your health, sir? - Thank you.
Mighty good to have you back, Pres.
Times are so unsettled we need our good men about us.
Looks like it. If the Yankees don't let us be...
...we'll have to teach them manners.
I'm afraid facts are against you doing it as easy as that.
Your facts are to scare women and sell Northern bonds.
- Cantrell. - I don't like to hear that.
One fact you can't deny: That we're the guests of a charming hostess.
Sorry, general. Most likely I misunderstood you, sir.
I don't think you misunderstood, sir. I expressed an opinion.
There was nothing personal about it. Take it as you like.
Why, if it wasn't personal, I'm satisfied.
Just understand, Cantrell...
...the question of being satisfied about my opinions is of no importance to me.
Gentlemen. Gentlemen.
Don't look like we're in the mood for political discussion.
- Come. Shall we go in to the ladies? - I'm with you there, general.
Shucks, Buck, we're all friends here. Old friends.
Naturally, we are. Come along.
Buck seems dead set to pick a quarrel with you.
That's nothing new for Buck.
And Julie, she's set herself up to fascinate Buck...
...like a Gallatin Street girl.
Great ladies and Gallatin Street girls, my dear brother, have a lot in common.
Look here, has Julie been...?
The less you crack your teeth, the longer you'll have them, youngster.
Ted, Pres, Julie wants you both right away.
- Miss Massie is gonna play for us. - Thanks, Stephanie.
- Coming, Pres? - Yes, of course.
- Uncle Cato. - Yes, sir, Mr. Pres?
How's Miss Julie been? Has she seen lots of people? I mean...
No, sir, she ain't. She ain't seen nobody much.
Just stay in the house or ride the horse.
Mr. Pres, your lady take tea or coffee in the morning?
I hear folks eats mighty curious up North.
Coffee.
Uncle Cato, has Mr. Cantrell been up here? I mean, before today?
No, sir, he ain't. No company at all.
- Thanks, Uncle Cato. - Yes, sir, Mr. Pres.
Pres, why did you do it?
Why, Pres?
Because I love her.
- But you had my love. - And lost it.
Wasn't that memory more real than anything she had to give to you?
Oh, don't be cross with me, Pres. Just tell me.
- You must. - Please don't, Julie.
Shall I cry for you?
Nobody ever made me cry but you...
...and that was only twice.
- Do you remember? - Yes.
How much do you remember?
Everything you ever said or did.
But that's passed now, Julie. Done, finished.
I ought to have come to you. I wanted to so terribly.
It was because I wanted to so much that I couldn't.
You do understand that, don't you, Pres?
I didn't understand. I just knew what you did.
But you had to come home, didn't you?
You had to come back to the country and the things you know...
...because you belong here.
Nothing can change that.
Pres, listen.
Can you hear them?
The night noises?
The mockingbird in the magnolia?
See the moss hanging from the moonlight?
You can fairly taste the night, can't you?
You're part of it, Pres.
And it's part of you...
...like I am.
You can't get away from us, Pres. We're both in your blood.
This is the country you were born to, the country you know and trust.
Your country, Pres. Amy wouldn't understand.
- She'd think there'd be snakes. - Julie, please.
Oh, it isn't tame and easy like the North.
It's quick and dangerous, but you trust it.
Remember how the fever mist smells in the bottoms, rank and rotten?
But you trust that too because it's part of you...
...just as I'm part of you, and we'll never let you go.
Pres, you're afraid.
Miss Julie, I thought we'd lost you.
That's a right nice little Yankee. Pretty as a red wagon.
But trying to talk to her...
- That must've been something. - I tried her on horses.
She told me about a policeman's horse she'd feed sugar to back North.
I tried her on hound dogs. She thinks a Walker Hound is one that walks.
My zing, don't they educate women up North? She's just plain ignorant.
Northern girls are just educated differently.
- She probably knows calculus. - Sure, Miss Julie.
Any flower wench knows calculus.
By Calculation, out of Siderial Maid. Won the Ranger Stakes in '47.
What's the matter? Do you ache anywhere?
- Oh, it's nothing. - It is.
Look here, Miss Julie, you were out here a mighty long time with Pres Dillard.
Oh, please, Buck.
Pres had just been punishing the brandy and...
My back teeth.
Did he lose his capacity to drink like a gentleman in the North?
What does he think a lady's house is? A riverboat bar? What did he do?
Buck, I wouldn't have some silly thing I said be the cause of anything.
Miss Julie, you won't be the cause of anything.
Depend on me.
Thank you, Buck.
Oh, that's the cannon from New Orleans.
- You can hear it when the wind's right. - There it goes again.
- Wind has shifted to the south. - I can't bear loud and sudden noises.
Even firecrackers give me palpitations.
- What is it? - It's the fever cannon down in the city.
- Fever cannon? - Yes.
At night they set tar barrels blazing on every corner.
And the Washington artillery fire a cannon to fight the plague.
What good does that do?
Everybody knows it starts air currents to carry the fever away.
They might better drain the swamps and clean up the city.
- Is that what they do in Yankee land? - They do.
And other customs up North that will bear copying.
Eating horse-feed beans, maybe?
Everyone to his own taste.
I'll have to remind you, sir,...
...that my wife is a Northerner and a stranger here.
- You talk like you're the same. - See here, Buck!
I'm sorry, but this subject is an unwelcome one.
Excuse me, but as mistress of the house, you'll agree with me, I'm sure.
Why, Aunt Belle, I wouldn't think of forbidding any subject to my guests.
Mr. Pres, sir? Here come a white gentleman looking for you.
- Hello, Jenkins. What is it? - Dr. Livingstone sent me.
Mr. La Cour's down bad with the fever. Doctor says you better come right down.
Of course. Send a boy for my carriage.
You told him he could go visiting with his folks down the Riverview.
- Well, Bat will drive you. - Yes, hurry up.
Sir, Mr. La Cour is bad.
He wants to talk some bank business to you before...
Well, before it gets too late.
- Was I you, I'd ride. Be quicker. - All right.
You'll stop at Halcyon tonight, Jenkins. Make the journey back at your pleasure.
Gracious of you, Mistress Massie, but I must return at once.
Then you'll need a fresh mount.
There's Bayou Belle and Donna Cona in the stables.
Bat will go with you to bring the horses back.
- Go along and saddle them. - Yes.
Thank you, Aunt Belle.
- I ought to go with you. - No, won't take long.
You come down in the carriage.
- Ted, get me a coat. - Right away.
I'm gonna put on some boots.
You take care of her. I'll be right back.
Would you care to freshen up, Mr. Jenkins?
- Thank you, ma'am. - Would you mind?
Gladly.
Why, Erroneous.
What are you two doing here?
Zette done say for us to make inquirements...
...when we all is to sing with you and Master Pres.
Just another old custom, Mrs. Dillard. Tell Zette they can come up any time.
- Yes, ma'am. - What time, Miss Julie?
Ain't you hear? She done say, "Any time."
- That don't mean nothing. - It sure do.
Of course it does, Errata. Just you tell her.
- Yes, ma'am, Miss Julie. - It do.
It don't.
Hope you'll all forgive me. Goodbye, Mrs. Kendrick. Goodbye.
We understand perfectly, Pres.
- Now, darling, don't fret about me. - I'll try not to.
- You'll look after Amy, won't you, Ted? - You needn't have asked.
- Goodbye. Goodbye, everybody. - Goodbye, Preston.
- Goodbye, Pres. - Goodbye, Julie.
- I do hope everything will be all right. - It always is.
Of course, it's a pity Pres had to leave now.
But I suppose his bank comes first.
You don't find that admirable?
Oh, admirable, I suppose.
It just seems to me there are other things more interesting.
I imagine Buck finds it so.
Why, I never go into a bank if I can help it.
Seems like they're studying how to get something away from somebody.
I wouldn't say that, Buck.
What Mr. Cantrell means is that most folks down here...
...prefer other pursuits, like planting.
You needn't apologize for Mr. Cantrell.
I'm sure he's capable of defending his own insinuations.
Why, Mistress Dillard, ma'am, I surely didn't mean to offend.
Of course, Amy. Buck didn't realize what he was saying.
He doesn't even realize how Julie's using him.
- Ted. - How you mean that, son?
I don't get the sense of it, but it don't sound polite.
You know what I mean.
Julie's been egging you on, first against Pres and now his wife.
- Ted, be quiet! - I meant what I said.
Let's figure I didn't hear, then.
And I'd keep Miss Julie's name out of your conversation.
You're fool enough to defend what you don't even understand?
Buck, don't you pay any attention to him.
I don't see anybody that needs any defense.
If I did, I'd make out to defend them, yes.
- Let's put it this way, Mr. Cantrell. - Now, Ted.
All evening long, I thought you coarse and loud and not a gentleman.
That's better. No need for that.
Very well, Mr. Dillard, sir.
I'd be glad of your kindness, Dick.
Happy to do you the honor.
You young jackass.
- Buck, you surely don't mean to... - Miss Belle, don't mean nothing at all.
Just talking.
What does he mean to do, Aunt Belle?
Buck.
- Of course you're joking? - Joking, ma'am?
Buck, I forbid you. As a guest in my house.
Forbid me what, ma'am?
- To do what you're planning. - I don't know what you mean, Miss Julie.
Oh, stop play-acting.
Your stupid code. It's for fools.
You, too, beginning to think our customs are old-fashioned?
Oh, Buck, I beg you. This mustn't happen.
I don't understand.
I guess there's a lot I don't understand.
Naturally, you'll apologize to Buck.
General Bogardus, may I put myself in your hands?
You'll be good enough to make the arrangements.
Ted, listen to me. You can't do this. You must've...
Uncle Thee, you won't let this go any further, will you?
Mighty little I can do about it now.
- Naturally, I'll do everything I can. - Whatever it is, you must do it.
Isn't this what you wanted, Julie?
Or did your plans go astray?
We women can start the men quarreling often enough.
We can't ever stop them.
Come on. "Let's Raise a Ruckus Tonight."
- Julie. - Come on, sing, Aunt Belle.
Have the little Yankee join in.
We have such charming customs down here.
That's why I wore my white dress tonight.
I'm being baptized.
You'd no business to take him up, a youngster that's never been out before.
Why, if he's gonna talk man-size, he's gotta act man-size.
- But, Buck... - Why, Dick, he's lucky.
All I aim to do is clip a wing. Fix him so he won't fly too high.
Mighty nervous feeling the first time you face shot.
Wish I could tell him, but that would be highly irregular.
Anyhow, it might hurt his feelings.
Don't be a fool, Ted. Buck has offered twice to accept an apology.
He doesn't want to fight you.
You realize what you're up against?
I've had the benefit of Buck Cantrell's skill and experience.
I'll make the best use of it I can.
Gentlemen, take your places.
Remember, gentlemen, you turn and fire at the count of 10.
- Very good, sir. - Places.
- Are you ready? - At your service, sir.
Ready, sir.
Gentlemen. One, two, three, four...
...five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
Are you savages, you Southerners?
I'll fix him so he don't garter around me no more.
Good morning.
What brought you all out so early?
It's a grand morning, I couldn't resist it.
Where are the gentlemen?
- You know very well where they are. - Oh, yes, at a meeting.
A silly custom, but a part of what we Southerners call our chivalry.
You know, sometimes I envy them.
To face the one you hate,...
...to kill or be killed, to settle something.
We can't do that. We're women. Oh, Zette, aren't they beautiful?
Yes, ma'am, Miss Julie. Right nice and pretty.
Pretty enough for Ted's grave.
Ted.
Buck's dead.
I never saw a man die before.
He knew what you had done.
Before he died, he told me so.
- Miss Amy, we're leaving, get ready. - Thank you, general.
Miss Molly, you'll ride back with us. Dick will follow.
I quite understand, Uncle Thee.
My respects, ma'am.
I'll arrange to turn my guardianship over to the bank.
- Julie, I... - Stephanie.
All right, Zette.
Well, say it. What are you thinking?
I'm thinking of a woman called Jezebel...
...who did evil in the sight of God.
He's to bury.
- More killing. - Sorry, gentlemen, a case of "had to."
- A fugitive? - No.
Just a poor fool who was crazy enough to think he could run the fever line.
- Has it spread this far? - Sure.
Spreading like wildfire all along the river, yellow jack is.
We got orders to shoot whoever tries to pass the parish boundaries...
...coming or going.
You mean no one can get downriver to New Orleans?
That's the law, gentlemen.
Mind if we leave the body here till we can get a wagon?
I'm sorry, ladies. You heard what the sheriff said.
Uncle Cato, bring the baggage back in.
Ladies and gentlemen, my home is yours, as always.
That's today's crop for Lazarette Island.
Excuse me.
- Good evening, doctor. - Good evening.
- Bourbon. - Certainly, doctor.
Make mine double.
Well, they might as well now. Good a time as any.
Ain't that kind of unusual for you, son?
Are you telling me what I can drink?
Why, Pres...
Lord.
Dr. Livingstone, I don't know why I said that.
- Don't you feel right, son? - Kind of edgy, maybe.
It's been a tough day. I caught chill walking up.
Chill? You better be easing down.
With La Cour gone, we want you to clear up that mess in the bank.
It couldn't be. I saw him myself day before yesterday.
Well, I saw him an hour ago.
You think I don't know a dead man when I see one...
...and him laying in his coffin?
- His folks brought the body down. - What happened now?
Huger here claims Buck Cantrell is dead.
- What? Buck, dead? - Fever?
Sure, Huger, you're crazy.
I'll give 20-1 Buck Cantrell is to bury.
I'll give 10-to-1 Ted Dillard shot him in a duel.
Ten-to-one?
Ted Dillard follows him around like a hound dog.
Ted Dillard? And Buck? The best pistol shot in Louisiana?
Come on.
- Twenty-to-one. Any takers? - Yes.
I believe I heard you make a private matter...
...that concerns my family the subject of a bet.
- Why, Dillard. I'm mighty sorry. - It's not a thing to bet on.
No, I reckon you're right.
Only there's been so many dead folks lately, that...
- Dillard. - Why?
- Yellow jack! - We must get out of here!
- Yellow jack! - Yellow jack!
Get out of here!
One of you lend a hand here.
Ain't the one of you got enough whiskey in him to give you a little courage?
You're gonna let him lie here, you drunken blackguards?
If one of you don't help me, everyone of you whose face I remember...
...I'll call out, if you live through this epidemic, to be challenged.
You, Laurette.
Taylor, Van Noy, come on! Come on!
- Some rice, Dick? - No, thank you.
- More gumbo, Uncle Thee? - Thank you.
Serve the wine, Uncle Cato.
Miss Julie, please, ma'am. Bat, he just come.
Say Dr. Livingstone sent him back. Mr. Pres, he got the fever bad.
- The fever? - Pres? It can't be.
Yes, ma'am. He take him to your house because hotel folks won't take him in.
He say y'all get there quick, before they hustle him off to that leper place.
Leper place? What does he mean?
Lazarette Island, where they ship the fever victims.
- Get our carriage. - But, Ted, you can't get through.
Cato, have a couple of horses saddled. Ted, come with me. You all stay here.
Miss Amy, I'll get a pass from the governor, short of killing.
You and Miss Amy be dressed and ready. We'll be back as soon as we can.
- Bat? - Yes, Miss Julie.
Go on and eat. Go on.
How come they let you through the fever line? Sit down and eat.
They never. I just kind of oozed through.
How?
Well, when the white gentlemen stop me...
...I leave the horse and go walking across the back of the parish...
...because I'm bound to get back to Halcyon.
I just kind of squinched through the cane by the bayou.
- You swam the bayou? - No, ma'am, Miss Julie.
I scared of them gators.
I just kind of found me a double-end boat.
It ain't like I stealing, Miss Julie. I fixing to take it back.
You are. You're going back right now. And I'm going with you.
Get me a cloak. I'll meet you at the smokehouse.
- Miss Julie... - Go on. Hurry!
Miss Julie, ma'am!
It's too risky for a white lady, Miss Julie.
I kind of mix in with the night. But them sheriff folks ain't fooling.
They're shooting first and asking after.
Bat, we're going!
But, Miss Julie...
Get me a coat.
All right, I'm coming. I'm coming.
- Miss Julie! - Doctor, is Pres still here?
- Why, yes, ma'am. - Thank heaven.
Gros Bat, all right, go around to the quarters, and thank you.
- How is he? - As well as can be expected.
He's up in your room. I had to bring him here.
- No hotel would take him. - Naturally. His place is here.
Miss Julie!
I don't think you ought to go up there.
Yes... Blood... Blood...
That's what is...
You oughtn't to be in here, Miss Julie.
Yellow jack's mighty catching.
Pres.
It's my head.
Just keep on applying the cold compresses.
That's all we can do.
- Get some ice. - Yes, ma'am.
Be quick.
It's a part of a...
Remember... White...
Why, Miss Belle.
- How'd you get through? - We got a pass.
- Pres is here? - Yes.
How is he?
- Are you Mrs. Dillard? - Yes.
Well, he's no better and he's no worse.
- Please take me to him. - Yes, ma'am.
Pres, dear.
Please, doctor, you must tell me.
Then it's true. They're gonna take him away?
It was the only thing I could decently do.
- I'll be to kill first. - There's been enough of killing, son.
Pres is a fever patient. I had to report him so.
You reported him?
Have you any idea what would happen in New Orleans now...
...if folks got to thinking there's one law for the rich...
...and another for the poor?
Mistress Dillard, I put Pres on his first horse.
I caught his daddy out of the saddle when he died...
...at Buena Vista ahead of his men.
Pres is beyond talking, but I know him and I know his breeding.
I know what he'd say.
He's a man of honor.
And I've got to get on down to the wharf.
Miss Julie, you're looking mighty worn-out.
You'd better get yourself some sleep.
Otherwise, we'll be sending you off to the island too.
Doctor?
When they come for Pres, I'm going with him.
Mistress Dillard...
You must arrange it so that I can go with my husband.
- But it's unthinkable. - Will you arrange it?
You must, doctor.
You're asking a mighty terrible thing.
Oh, doctor, will you? I know what I'm asking.
Will you?
Yes, if you want it.
Thank you.
Amy.
Of course, it's your right to go. You're his wife.
But are you fit to go?
Loving him isn't enough.
If you gave him all your strength, would it be enough?
- I'll make him live, or die with him. - Amy.
Amy, do you know the Creole word for fever powder?
For food and water?
How to talk to a sullen, overworked black boy...
...and make him fear you and help you?
Pres' life and yours will hang on things just like that,...
...and you'll both surely die.
Then it'll have to be that way.
It's not a question of proving your love by laying down your life.
Nothing so easy.
Have you the knowledge and the strength...
...to fight for his life and for your own as one will have to fight?
Amy, it's no longer you or me.
- What do you mean? - I'll make him live. I will.
Whatever you might do, I can do more...
...because I know how to fight better than you.
Amy, if you knew the horror of that place.
It isn't a hospital. It's a desolate island haunted by death.
They'll put Pres in an open shed with a hundred others.
You must be there with him day and night, watching every breath he draws.
You must bathe him, keep him clean...
...give him drugs, fight for his food and water.
You must keep the living from him, and the dead.
Be there by him, with your body between him and death.
Amy, I...
Where is he?
Upstairs. End of the hall.
- I'm not afraid. - No, you're not afraid.
You're the bravest woman I ever saw.
I even believe you have the courage to save him...
...by giving me the right to go in your place.
You're not afraid to die.
I boldly ask a greater sacrifice in Pres' name, his life.
And for yourself?
I'm asking for the chance to prove I can be brave and strong and unselfish.
Help me, Amy.
Help me make myself clean again, as you are clean.
Let me prove myself worthy of the love I bear him.
Julie, tell me, something that only you can tell me...
...does Pres still love you?
He himself might not know, but you would.
- Amy, you must let me go with him. - Tell me.
What does it matter who he loves? It's his life that matters.
Tell me.
We both know.
Pres loves his wife.
Who else would he love?
Not me, surely.
I've done too much against him.
You see, I never knew how to be gentle and brave as you are.
Had there been any love in his heart for me...
...I'd have taken him from you.
I tried and failed...
...because he loves only you.
I'm grateful to you for telling me, but I had to know.
Amy.
God protect you and Pres.
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